


He's Gone (and he won't be coming back)

by CheshireAsh



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Blizzard of '68 (Rise of the Guardians), Creepy Pitch Black (Guardians of Childhood), E. Aster Bunnymund Has Feelings, Evil Pitch Black (Guardians of Childhood), Found Family, Gen, Guardians of Childhood as family, Hurt E. Aster Bunnymund, Hurt Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), It's kinda mean, Parental Nicholas St. North, Parental Toothiana (Guardians of Childhood), Poor Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Presumed Dead Jack Frost, Protective E. Aster Bunnymund, Protective Guardians of Childhood, Protective Nicholas St. North, Protective Sanderson Mansnoozie, Protective Toothiana (Guardians of Childhood), Protective Wind, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Slave Jack Frost, Slavery, Team as Family, Uncle Sanderson Mansnoozie, Voice in His Head, yay?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27105127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheshireAsh/pseuds/CheshireAsh
Summary: When Pitch Black kidnaps Jack Frost from right under Bunny's nose, how will everyone react? Jack is made into his slave, and comes back into the picture 200 years later, obedient as a whipped dog. Can the Guardians of Childhood save him from Pitch and himself?
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund & Jack Frost, Jack Frost & Guardians of Childhood, Jack Frost & Pitch Black
Comments: 8
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

Many people believed that one couldn’t possibly be completely evil. Surely there was a reason for such mass destruction and there couldn’t possibly be a reason to cause so much pain if they weren’t protecting something in the process. Pitch Black was one such person. Everyone who knew of him knew that he was bad, but they had assumed that he wouldn’t go overboard. After all it wasn’t entirely his fault that he had turned out like that, right? And then Pitch Black encountered a young boy, a new spirit, emerging from a frozen-over lake and he was completely enraptured. 

Jack Frost stared around him in wonder as he emerged from the ice. What is this, he thought. A world so cold and beautiful, maybe it was some sort of heaven. Not any heaven he had heard of though, he thought with his nose scrunched up as he considered the possibility. He had always heard that heaven was a place with gold streets and angels blowing trumpets. A blaring pain thrust through his head as he desperately tried to remember where he had heard this, but he quickly stopped this line of thought due to the immense pain. 

Pitch Black was staring at the white-haired boy from amidst the shadows cast by the trees by the lake. Having been alerted to some strange activities going on at the lake near the edge of the territory he had claimed for himself, he had followed a nightmare to the place of interest immediately. Although one might not place the smile that graced his lips as evil, it most certainly was as he stared at the mischievous young winter sprite stumbling around, trying out his new powers and with any previous headache forgotten. His astonishment at the world around him amused Pitch. Now isn’t quite the right time, he realized. But soon my pet. Soon you will be mine. 

-Many years later Blizzard of '68, Easter Sunday- 

A large grin filled Jack’s face as he raced through the town, spreading a soft blanket of snow everywhere. The beauty of the freshly fallen snow sparkling and inviting the children out to play made him love his job even more than he typically did, which was saying a lot considering his job was the absolute best! Unfortunately, the look of joy in his eyes was soon replaced with one of fear as his burst of happiness gave an unexpected boost to his powers. In the blink of an eye, the snow that had been gently falling grew harsher, the snow clouds became a thick layer with no sign of the moon peeking through them. The sparkle was gone and the children were being ushered inside and away from the impending blizzard. Jack panicked, trying to get the snow and wind that were whipping at his skin under control, but his alarm was only adding to the chaos. 

"Come on Stupid," he growled at himself though gritted teeth. "This is your one job! Come on!" With one last surge of focus, it stopped snowing, but the damage had been done. Snow covered everything. It muffled all sound, so that all Jack could hear was the heavy panting of his own breath. 

The snow certainly did not allow him to hear the soft padding of footsteps behind him until a voice said startled him out of an impending panic attack. "What do you think you're doing mate? It's Easter! Not one of your silly 'snow days.'" 

Jack slowly turned around. Behind him stood a large bunny. The Easter Bunny to be precise. The pooka towered over the winter spirit, probably easily able to smash him into pieces, and he looked angry. Despite the fact that this anger obviously had a good cause and Jack knew it, he also felt that he would have to hole up somewhere for a good long while if he was injured by such a large being. Unfortunately for Jack, he wasn’t the best at not antagonizing others. Masking the frightened look in his eyes, he snarked, "Oh, really?" 

"Yes really," the oversized bunny growled from behind him. He swiped at Jack’s shoulders and spun him around, grinning ferally as he fell in the cold, wet snow and soaked his only pair of clothes. "You. You have ruined this. I get one day a year, one day! You just had to take it away from me. Soon, all the kids will start their egg hunts, only to realize that there are no eggs." This last bit he hissed, leaning toward Jack and poking a furry finger into his chest with each word, ignoring the flinch away from him. "There will be less believers, and it will be All. Your. Fault." 

Hearing this, Jack flinched again. "I just-" he started to say before being cut off again. 

"No! Stop! There is no excuse for what you did today. You are an idiot. Worthless. Wanted by none. And that is all you will ever be!" The Easter Bunny turned around, his shoulders slumped sadly as walked away to leave Jack with his thoughts. 

The words echoed in his mind. "Idiot. Worthless. Wanted by none. And that is all you will ever be." He started to cry. Not just a few tears, but a cascade of them running down his face, not a single one of them reaching the ground before freezing. “It was an accident,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. To make it even worse, a group of people walked by, directly through him. A shiver went through the group and they collectively pulled their coats just a bit tighter. For Jack however, it was just the final nail in the coffin. He let out a gasp and froze up, unable to justify his current existence. 

Pitch smirked as he listened to the crying. "Now is the time!" he muttered to himself, still in a grand tone despite how low it was. He rose from his hiding place and wrapped the boy in front of him in a column of his special nightmare sand. Before he put a gag on, Jack managed to cry out, despite his surprise. "Bunny! Help! He-" he screamed until he was once again cut off. He whimpered in his gag and, refusing to look at Pitch, he closed his eyes shut and repeated endlessly in his mind, 'Bunny will come. Bunny will come. Bunny will come.' He struggled against his bonds, but there was not the slightest bit of leeway.  
The Easter Bunny spun around after hearing the cries for helping. "Idiot," he mumbled under his breath. “Not even worth my time.” However, he couldn't ignore a child's fear and Jack was indeed still a child in his mind, so he started moving at a fast-ish pace towards where he had left the boy. When he arrived in eyesight of what was happening, he took a sharp intake of breath, having recognized Pitch Black. "Let him go," he shouted, launching himself forward with all his power, but Pitch simply laughed and dragged Jack backward into a shadow and disappearing. The last thing that Bunny remembered was the mixture of pleading and surprise that Bunny actually came brimming in Jack’s eyes. At that moment, he forgot any previous transgressions and vowed to save Jack Frost at any cost.


	2. Chapter 2

Nicholas St. North stood in his workshop. While Christmas was obviously the superior holiday to all the others, there wasn’t much for him to do during the Spring months. He would obviously do what he did best, invent new toys, but there wasn’t much that was required of him. Today however, it wasn’t his duties as Santa Claus that were distracting him. It was in fact his job as the protector of children. North looked up at the large, glowing globe. It was covered in a substance that he had hoped to never see again. 

"Pitch Black," he growled softly under his breath. 

The silky black sand wound around the globe, completely covering it. The light that usually radiated from the orb was thoroughly obscured. Then in an instant, it all shot off in splinters of pure darkness before reforming into a different shape. A human shape. North glared at the sand as it slowly dispersed. He knew exactly what the sand meant and why it was sent. Once it had finally disappeared, he showed a forced smirk and pulled a lever that was conspicuously just hanging out on a wall. .

Outside the window, the northern lights exploded into the air. Visible around the world, the lights found and beckoned to the remaining guardians. Upon their arrival at the North Pole, they all shared a universal look of confusion. 

"Why did you call us?" Toothiana asked, fluttering above the others while still not sully focused on the situation at hand. A few of the smaller versions of herself were flocking around her and she was gesturing wildly and giving each of them directions because apparently it's very difficult to find the tooth of a 70 year old hermit who didn’t lose it as a child like everyone else. 

Detective Sanderson Mansnoozie was already on the case. Having noticed trace remnants of black sand on the floor, he knew exactly what North had called them there for. The knowledge made him droop and the energy seemed to seep out of him.

E. Aster Bunnymund was not as perceptive as his sandy friend. "Yeah mate. Don’t you know that it's almost Easter and I still need to finish the eggs?" he added, gesturing to the paintbrush and egg that he was still holding in one of his large, furry paws. “Easter is the best holiday after all. I need to make it perfect.”

North started to reply to that, fully prepared to begin the argument that the pair had had time and time again, but then he remembered the reason that he called them. He dropped his calm and confident charade, and began to look fully panicked. "It's Pitch," he gasped out. "He was here." 

This news affected every single one of them and sent them back into a time that was long gone, but full of misery and fear. However, it seemed to hit Bunny the hardest. "Pitch is what?" he said in a faint tone. "I thought he had disappeared after..." He buried his face in his paws, overwhelmed by the memory of Jack's kidnapping.

Tooth and North rushed to Bunny’s side to offer comfort, but Sandy was distracted by something that he deemed a tad more important at the moment than Bunny’s emotional well-being. He had noticed that the moon was shining more brightly than it normally did, which always meant that the Man in the Moon was attempting to tell them something. 

Sandy tried repeatedly to get the other's attention, but they were apparently too busy to notice the wild symbols above his head. They were always too busy, he thought dejectedly. Finally, an idea came to him. If he wanted to make them notice him, he would have to make a racket. He kicked over a nearby chair, but it fell to the soft carpet with not even a whisper of noise. Then it hit him. Sandy grasped an elf that had been running by with a tray of cookies by the hat and shook him as hard as he could. 

Jeff the elf was decidedly unhappy by this choice in action and stomped off angrily after he was released. 

The other guardians looked over, irritated despite the fact that he had literally done nothing remotely wrong besides maybe giving an elf brain damage. "What do you want Sandy?" North asked. Rolling his eyes, Sandy pointed up toward the moon. 

North’s eyes widened. "Man in Moon!" he cried in an excited tone. The four of them rushed over to a panel on the floor where they could talk with the great, the powerful, the magnificent, the… Man in the Moon. "It has been a long time my old friend," North boomed. "Do you have any wisdom to share with us in this hard time?" 

A shadow of Pitch appeared on the stone. North shot a glance at the others, which clearly said, ‘See? What did I tell you’. Then, to all of their surprise, the panel opened. Every single one of them knew what that meant. A new guardian was going to be joining them. An image began to take shape, but it was still a tad blurry. Then it became clearer. It was a boy. A very specific young boy with pure white hair. 

Bunny gasped in shock as soon as he saw the image. "Jack?" he said in a broken voice. "I thought he was dead." "We all did," Tooth said comfortingly. "Then where-" North said slowly. "Where has he been for so long?" 

Meanwhile, the object of the interest and concern had his head down, unable to look Pitch Black in his eyes. He wasn’t even sure what he had done wrong, but something was not up to Pitch’s standard of perfection and so he was to be punished. "I’m sorry master," he mumbled as he took back the food he had prepared for Pitch. "I'll do better next time master." 

"You'd better," Pitch grumbled. Despite the fact that he seemed upset, as he continued looking down at the young boy kneeling in front of him, his eyes shone with malice. "Now pet, do you remember the punishment for not obeying my orders?" 

In the same monotone voice that he had started with, Jack answered. "A burn master." Burns were some of the worst punishments that Pitch inflicted on him. As a winter spirit, he was particularly susceptible to heat of any kind. 

"Correct," Pitch replied with a smirk. "Now come to the punishment room," he said, his voice simply oozing with fake sweetness. "I may have found a new way to go about this." 

Jack suppressed a flinch. Experiments were always ten times worse. He nodded and followed his master. There was no visible reaction besides the fact that his eyes widened in fear, but he would have been shaking violently if that hadn’t been whipped out of him fifty years prior. On their way, a nightmare galloped up to Pitch, and whispered in his ear in a language that only Pitch could understand. 

"Forget the punishment," Pitch said, turning sharply on his heel. "I have a better way for us to spend our time." He whistled and thousands upon thousands of nightmares came rushing in from everywhere, from each and every room in the lair and from every little child's bedroom where they had been lying in wait. They came in every shape and size. Jack spotted many horses, but he also noticed some squirrels, dogs, and even some lurking shapes that wouldn’t be found in any part of the natural world. "It's time to put you to use, you useless whelp," Pitch said. "Infuse your ice into them!" 

Jack looked up through his bangs. "Yes master," he said softly. He spread out his hands and concentrated. Soon, ice swirled from his fingers dancing around the nightmares, but instead of freezing them, they took on a blue shine and began to radiate a cold blue light. 

"Perfect!" Pitch said, smirking victoriously. “I will win now because I am more powerful than all four of the Guardians of Childhood combined!" He led the way out of his lair, humming merrily to himself.

Back at Santa’s workshop, Tooth grimaced as her eyes opened wide in fear. "Palace. Now." She ushered them all to the sleigh as it was the fastest form of transportation that would allow all of them to arrive at the same time. Bunny certainly had his doubts about riding in the sleigh, but one look at Tooth's face made him keep those particular thoughts to himself. 

A quick sleigh ride later and they arrived to complete chaos. Horrified, they stood still for a moment watching the nightmares swarming the building. In the center of all the chaos stood Pitch Black with his head thrown back halfway through a cackle. A small broken figure lay below him, probably there as a testament to his complete and utter victory. Jack had a collar of black nightmare sand, a sign of Pitch's ownership, around his neck. It was chained to a nearby pole. He looked up at the guardians quickly before looking away in fear. Once again, he was reminded of Bunny's words from so long ago. “Idiot. Worthless. Wanted by none. And that is all you will ever be!" Jack blinked back a tear and looked back down at the floor. 

The sight filled Bunny with horror, but also hope. "Jack?" he said in a whisper, barely holding on to the chance that they had found him. "Is that you?". Jack was unable to hear him, but Pitch certainly could. Or at least one of the nearby nightmares had told him. One never can be too sure about the hearing capabilities of immortal beings.

“The kangaroo asked you a question boy,” Pitch said harshly, yanking Jack’s head up. Blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth, but neither of them did anything to rectify that. “Are you Jack Frost?” Pitch had dropped the harsh voice, instead opting for a condescending voice that most people would use to talk to a baby or a puppy. “Tell him.”

Jack’s eyes were filled with fear, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than not to answer. However, he knew that a broken bone was the punishment for stalling or, even worse, not answering at all. So he nodded, unwilling to trust his voice at that time.

Filled with rage, Bunny made a few signs with his hands. Luckily for them, they had come up with a code language years ago for if they ever needed to communicate without talking. The other guardians nodded, agreeing with his plan, so he put it into action. 

He started talking, taunting Pitch as he edged closer to him, attempting to keep his attention off Jack. While Bunny did that, North and Tooth started fighting the nightmares. However tired Tooth was, she would be a queen to her dying breath. Jack on the other hand was sitting hunched against the pole, covering his ears and trying to drown out the sounds of fighting. Fighting was bad; It always caused him to get hurt. Suddenly he felt someone grab him up. He flinched back, slamming the side of his head against the pole. Looking up, he realized that it was just Sandy, but that didn’t exactly stop the fear coursing through his body. 

Sandy removed the chain, fashioning a sword out of golden sand to cut it, then tried to remove the collar. He failed and, with a worried look on his face, he grabbed Jack and stepped through a portal back to the North Pole. Why they hadn’t used this quick transportation on their way to the palace was a mystery, but it's not like the other guardians would have listened to him anyway if he had suggested it.

"That's my cue," said Bunny with a wink when he saw Sandy retreat. He pounded the ground with his very large foot and promptly disappeared through a hole, a pink spring flower coming up from where he had previously stood. 

"Ta ta," North bellowed in Pitch’s direction, grabbing Tooth and jumping through a separate portal. 

Pitch Black stood there in shock. His nightmares continued to ravage the palace around him. It seemed like it should have been a victory. He had claimed a guardian’s base! But he had lost his slave and none of the guardians appeared to be injured in the slightest. He turned around and stumbled through a shadow portal.


	3. Chapter 3

The portal that Sandy conjured was fully made of his golden sand. Unfortunately for Jack, this golden sand made Jack’s throat all scratchy and brought out a deep, raspy cough from somewhere deep inside of him. For the longest time, the only type of special sand that he had come in contact with was Pitch’s toxic black sand. After so many years, he had managed to get used to the toxicity but all the pure sand he was now surrounded with was an extremely harsh difference. As soon as Sandy stepped out of the swirling sand, he set Jack down on the ground. A rash was appearing on the young boy’s skin anywhere that he had prolonged contact with the Sandman, and the red that had appeared was starting to freak the elder one out. Jack was set on the floor with care and Sandy backed away as quickly as he could, unwilling to hurt the boy any longer.

After Sandy set Jack down, Tooth started fluttering above him. Her exhaustion forgotten, she looked nearly as lively as ever at the prospect of seeing Jack for the first time in absolute ages. "Oh goodness!" she gasped when his face came into her line of sight.. "Is he alright? He doesn't look as pale as he should. Maybe I should go find some snow?" Her face brightened for a split second. "Ooh! I hope that his teeth are still just as pearly white as ever!" She took a quick peek into the poor boy’s mouth, forcing her fingers inside and spreading his lips wide in an attempt to get a good view, before blanching away. "I'm going to go find some snow," she said faintly. "I'll just..." she gestured vaguely toward the door before flying out at full speed. 

As it turns out, Pitch had been altering Jack, infusing the sand into the young boy and attempting to forcefully turn him into a creature of darkness. Sandy was shocked to see that it was in fact beginning to work. Looking closely, it was possible to see a few of his white strands of hair turning black and his teeth were starting to take on an alarming grayish tinge. Even more concerning than this however, was the fact that even the tips of his ears were an disturbing shade of grey. 

Bunny then popped up out of the ground. Apparently his tunnel transportation system was far slower than the portals that both North and Sandy utilized. Almost on cue, Jack went limp from his position on the ground. Bunnymund instantly panicked, looking at Sandy frantically. With one glance, he took in the red rash blooming across the young immortal's skin. "What happened?" he asked quickly. "Is he hurt?" 

Sandy shook his head aggressively, a few symbols flashing above his head in an attempt to explain the situation. Bunny’s fearful look began to fade, not fully disappearing, but most definitely lessening. He nodded his head slowly, trying to decipher what Sandy was trying to say with very little success. 

"So you're saying that he..." He paused, shaking his head to clar the thoughts crowding his mind. "North is always so much better at this than me. Wait five minutes and tell him. He can translate." 

North had left the room as soon as he had arrived with Tooth in tow. Apparently he was going to retrieve something to explain to Jack his new role, but no one was entirely certain where he had gone. 

Sandy appeared to be satisfied with that plan, nodding his head before looking down at Jack Frost in concern. He gestured toward Jack in a 'What do we do with him' sort of manner and this time Bunny decided not to be a complete imbecile and managed to understand. 

"I'll take him to my room and tell the yetis to turn down the heat." He cradled Jack in his arms. "North has to be back any second now. If he’s not back within another five minutes, please inform him that I will kick his ass" 

The exact second that Bunny stepped out of earshot, North came in through the back door. Unfortunately for Sandy, he had begun pacing and was standing near that very door at the time that it was slammed open. It came to a sudden halt in front of Sandy, about an inch from his face. It nearly gave him a heart attack, which should have been physically impossible as he was an immortal being made of sand, but since when did the Man in the Moon play by the rules? Anyway, North quickly stepped into the room. 

"Where is the boy?" he boomed. He hadn’t meant to explode the eardrums of a few of the nearby faeries, but it was an unfortunate byproduct of being too close to a certain Santa Claus "Is the boy okay? Where did Tooth and Bunny get to? We have important business to discuss!" 

A flurry of symbols appeared above Sandy's head. North instantly knew what they meant, unlike a certain incompetent Bunny who shall remain unnamed. 

"Good!" he exclaimed. "We will wait for Tooth to return, then go meet Bunny and Jack!" His face turned somber. "We will all hope for his recovery." 

It didn’t take too long for Tooth came zipping back into the room with much of her usual vigor and a sack full of snow. "Wren lent me her sack!" she said, proudly showing it off. 

Wren was a huge yeti that had ended up bonding with the tooth fairy on one of her many visits to the North Pole. The pair shared very mothering instincts and both enjoyed forcing North to take breaks and actually eat meals. That man could go for weeks without taking breaks or eating anything but junk food if he wasn’t stopped, and Wren had taken over that job when Toothiana wasn’t around.

"Wren said that she was going to go check on Jack. We're going there next, right?”

"What a fantastic idea!" North said, loudly of course. "Come!" He strode off down a long corridor, only going a short way before coming to a sudden halt. He then turned to Sandy. "Where did you say Bunny had taken Jack?" Sandy sighed, but told North that Bunny had taken Jack to his room for the second time. "Ah!" North said, his face turning a deep shade of red. He swiftly turned around and went back the way they had come. 

The group turned down a different passage, coming up on Bunny's room soon after. Each and every one of the guardians had a room at the North Pole for on the off chance that they were needed. Bunny’s room was typically kept at a fairly high temperature to account for his preferred temperature of warm springtime, but as North threw open the door, a wave of frigid air swept over them. North had been ready to congratulate Bunny on the excellent rescue plan, but quickly stopped short at the sight in front of him. Bunny was sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair next to the bed where Jack was laying. His head was resting in his paws and tears were silently slipping down his face and soaking into his fur. 

"Oh," Tooth gasped, her hand involuntarily reaching up toward her mouth. She hurried next to Bunny’s side, laying her hand on his shoulder. The pooka in question stiffened, but didn’t do much else to acknowledge their presence. "It's not your fault Bunny. It never was. I know you blame yourself, but there was nothing you could have done and you are doing all you can to help now that there’s something that you can possibly do." 

Bunny shook his head. "But if I wasn't such a-" He paused, trying to find the right word. 

Before he could spit out any disparaging thing about himself, North interrupted. "You are a great friend to me." He spread his arms wide. "To all of us. You will be invaluable when it comes to Jack's recovery." 

Bunny's eyes now glistened with a different type of tears. "Thank you," he said in a voice raspy from crying. "I don't know what I would do without all of you." 

North grabbed Sandy by the hand and pulled him forward toward Bunny, enveloping everyone into a large hug. "We will help each other through this," North whispered, his voice surprisingly quiet for the first time ever. "Jack will not have to go through this alone and neither will you Bunny. We will become an even closer family." 

Bunny pulled back, clearly uncomfortable with the level of emotional vulnerability being shown in the room at the moment. In an attempt to lighten the energy in the huddle, he decided to crack a joke instead. "So you would be the dad and Tooth would be the mom..." 

The two in question looked at each other and blushed. "Shush you," North grumbled. "You would have to be the irresponsible son." Sandy's symbols appeared in a quick succession. "You would be the strange uncle," North said, holding back a laugh. Sandy managed an affronted look, and North, Bunny, and Tooth laughed at his expense. At that moment, a groan came from the mattress next to them and they all jumped to attention.


	4. Chapter 4

At the small groan from Jack, Bunnymund immediately leaned over the young boy. Guilt ridden eyes surveyed the damage. Jack was even paler than he typically was and his hands were shaking slightly. The only reassurance that Bunny had was the fact that the black strands reaching up his neck hadn’t gotten even worse. Tears started to well up in Bunny’s eyes again as he surveyed the damage.

The other Guardians had been hanging back, trying to give him time to collect himself. While this was lovely sentiment, Tooth was unable to contain herself when she saw the wetness returning to his face. She rushed forward to smother him in a hug. “Shhh,” she hushed him as he tried to choke back sobs yet again. “I swear, this wasn’t your fault. We will stop Pitch and fix Jack. Everything will be back to normal soon enough, I promise. At the moment however, you have to snap out of it. We have to wake Jack up in order to help him and you crying isn't what he needs to see right now..” 

Steeling himself, Bunny nodded. Tightly gripping one of Tooth’s tiny hands in his large furry paw, he glanced over his shoulder at North and Sandy, searching for reassurance that they were still there for support. The pair stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to help. Sandy felt as though he should go up and help wake Jack, but instead he settled for a little wave. It was Bunny’s task after all. 

After taking another deep breath, the pooka in question carefully shook Jack’s shoulder. “Frostbite,” he said gently. “You need to wake up.” 

Jack shifted uncomfortably, but did not, in fact, wake up. Aster tried again, this time poking him in the shoulder rather harshly. This nudge was apparently what it took to get Jack awake. There was a new problem however. This particular problem was the exact opposite of their original problem. The new problem was that he was now a little bit too awake. 

He bolted upright, nearly slamming his face into Bunny’s. At least, he would have if pookas weren’t born with the reflexes of a god. Bunny yanked his face to safety just in the nick of time. While Bunny was looking relieved, Jack was glancing around frantically as though looking for a threat. 

When he spotted the Guardians, his posture immediately grew more rigid. The threat had been spotted. He shrank back into the pillows littering the mattress he was laid on, opening and closing his hands a few times and digging his nails into his skin hard enough to draw trace amounts of blood. After a good thirty seconds of sitting in petrified silence and ignoring the soft pleas of the Guardians, he whispered in a voice that was nearly too quiet and hoarse for the Guardians to hear. “Wind,” he said. “Help, please.” 

With those words, he was swiftly swept upward. Then, slightly louder, he whispered, “Please don’t hurt me.” These words were intended to be heard only by the Guardians, unlike the previous ones.

Bunnymund looked horror struck. “Frostbite… I never meant to-” 

Now that Jack’s vision was clearing slightly from the panic that was flooding it a few seconds prior, his eyes locked specifically on Bunny. The absolute fear that he had been feeling when he first woke up was mainly due to the fact that there was a large presence that was looming over him. Now however, he had an actual target for his fear. His eyes widened in sheer panic and he was suddenly gone. 

The door that had been left open upon the Guardians’ arrival had never been closed and it had become the perfect method of escape. Disappearing out the door and down the hallway, Jack seemed to simply vanish to the astonished onlookers. Extremely close to hyperventilating, Jack’s main goal was to find a place to hide and wait out the impending panic attack. He continued down the winding passageways for several minutes, not paying much attention to where he was going because he knew that Wind would keep him safe. His assumption was correct, as Wind put him down gently in an isolated corner of the workshop.

While Wind may have believed that the Guardians would be the best option to protect Jack, she also wanted him to be happy. If staying with the nice people caused him to be afraid, she was perfectly happy to wait it out until he felt comfortable enough to approach them and actually ask for help. She was content with protecting him in the way that he needed at the time.

Jack curled up in the corner, listening to the loud banging and calls that were coming from the direction he had just come from. Taking a moment to collect himself, he slowly eased the oncoming panic attack. Continuing to take deep breathes, he focused on the feeling of Wind caressing his neck in a comforting manner. 

“Why is he here?” Jack wondered, mumbling to himself after he had calmed down somewhat. “He left me. He thought that I deserved to be taken by Pitch. He wanted me to be captured.” These whispered words were in an attempt to reassure himself. 

If Bunny hadn’t let him be captured, then that meant that his childhood hero was powerless to save him. The Easter Bunny seemed so powerful that if Pitch was able to defeat him, then Jack knew that there wasn’t a chance of escape from his prison. Therefore, Bunny must have thought that he wasn’t worth saving. If Bunnymund had known me better, he would have protected me. At least, that was what kept Jack going when the nights got difficult and he was all alone 

You see, during his younger years as a spirit Jack used to follow Bunny around on Easter, relishing in the happiness that he brought to the children. If only anyone had looked at Jack the way that he had looked at the children. If only he had been shown even the smallest bit of attention in the 200 years he had been alive. Or dead. Jack didn’t really know the best way to describe what he was. ‘If only’ didn't change the fact that Jack was left alone for 200 years. In fact, that interaction with Bunny was the first that Jack had had in so long. If only it had gone differently, but Jack knew that he had messed it up. 

The thing is, Jack Frost is a seasonal spirit. Shocking, I know. From the moment of his creation, he automatically knew that it was his job to spread winter. Sure, he might have taken a few liberties and had some fun while doing it, but the world did in fact need snow. It had suffered immensely over the period of time that he had been with Pitch. 

During the Easter of ‘68, the one that ruined everything, that town that was such a source of contention between Jack and Bunny had been long overdue for a snowfall. But Bunny just hadn’t wanted to listen. He assumed that Jack was messing with him. He assumed the worst. Everyone would always assume the worst. No matter what. Even when it was something that couldn’t have possibly been his fault

Whenever a nightmare had broken something in Pitch’s lair, Jack had been blamed, even when he had been chained in a room far away from the breakage and had been physically incapable of doing such an act. The nightmares even seemed to make a game of it. Jack lifted up one of his sleeves, looking down at the resulting punishment of one of these times. He wasn’t even sure what had been broken, but the nightmare had looked down at his broken form with such a smug gleam in its eyes while Pitch stood in anger. 

In the resulting punishment, Pitch had very nearly cut his hand off. Thankfully, he had stopped the process before the cut got too deep, but Jack was still left with a large scar stretching across his wrist. After the incident, Pitch had grabbed him by his hair, muttering about useless winter spirits before dragging the sobbing boy outside and throwing him into a small pile of snow. He left him there for a few hours, long enough for the wound to not be life threatening, and then he dragged him back from where he had been blissfully asleep, buried in the snow for the first time in years. This was apparently a bad move as Pitch decided that he needed a punishment for attempting to sleep off a punishment. Jack was thrown into a burning room, one of many that Pitch had built around his lair for quick, easy, and incredibly painful punishment, and he left there for several days. At least, he was fairly certain that it was several days. Jack always lost track of time during the agony of that particular punishment. After that, he very quickly learned not to sleep when he wasn’t allowed. 

As a result, he hardly slept and he managed to operate just fine, thank you very much. But it had been such a long time since he had even a small nap, he reasoned to himself. Why couldn’t he sleep for like twenty minutes? Wind would wake him up if any of the Guardians came close. With that thought in his mind, he fell asleep curled up in a corner of North’s workshop. 

Downstairs, the Guardians were frantically looking for the missing spirit. Apparently, North needed some better security. Maybe cameras would be a good investment?

“Phil!” the under-securitied man called gruffly. “Phil!” The yeti couldn’t arrive fast enough for North’s tastes, and the poor yeti was met with a glare when he arrived. “Phil! Have you seen Jack?” 

As he was a tad annoyed with how he had been treated, Phil simply looked at North with a confused tilt of his head despite the fact that he knew exactly where the boy was hiding. 

North sighed, obviously upset but unable to fault the yeti for not knowing who Jack Frost was. “Winter spirit? White hair? I mean, it has a greyish tinge currently, but still!” 

Phil shrugged, saying something first to North, then in the language that only other yetis seemed to be able to understand. He lumbered off, and North turned toward Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy. 

“Phil said that he will keep an eye out, as well as inform the other yetis and the elves of the search. It has top priority right now!” He yelled after the disappearing yeti. Phil just waved a hand over his shoulder to indicate that he had heard. 

Little did North know that Phil had simply informed the other yetis to make sure that the hallway that contained the sleeping winter spirit was kept at a low temperature. He may have potentially also told them to lead the Guardians on a wild goose hunt. But that would be absolutely preposterous. Why would he do something like that? It wasn’t as if North had disrespected him for the 23rd time that day or anything.


	5. Chapter 5

The guardians had each split up, heading in separate directions but somehow all avoiding the hallway where Jack Frost was napping. The yetis and elves were supposedly doing the same thing. However, it may be said that they were actively attempting to lead them in the wrong direction. Phil was having an excellent time and had to stifle laughter anytime he crossed paths with Santa Claus.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end at some point it seems. Another yeti, his name is David but that doesn’t exactly matter, had accidentally kicked a wall directly underneath the sleeping winter spirit. The resulting roar of pain drew all the guardians at the speed of light to the room. Phil rolled his eyes, but followed.

When they arrived at the scene of the cry, they found David holding his foot, jumping in place and still bellowing. "Did you stub your toe?" Bunny asked incredulously. He shook his head and started to hop away. Stupid yetis. They were always wasting his time. Jack was far more important that some stupid minor injury. 

A large, furry paw landed on his shoulder, spinning him around, and stopping him in his tracks. Bunny’s furious glare was met with Phil matching that expression perfectly. If David was going to have to ruin his fun, the least the Guardians could do was not disregard him yet again! Phil grunted, pointing upward at the floating Jack Frost seven feet above all of their heads. All four Guardians looked up to see him sleeping, all of them gasping wordlessly. They had not expected to actually find him after the supposed false alarm. 

After a brief second of hesitation, Tooth flew up to Jack’s level, trying to make sense of the situation. "It looks like the wind is helping him," she called down to the earthbound Guardians. With that, she was gently pushed backward by a breeze, further proving her hypothesis. 

Jack stirred, causing everyone present to freeze. They let out a breath that none of them had even realized that they were holding when he simply stretched and rolled over. "What do we do?" Bunny deferred to North quietly. He was scared to talk too loudly for fear of waking up Jack after what had happened last time. Bunny didn’t want to lose Jack yet again.

"I do not know!" North replied, lowering his voice as well, but obviously not enough. The loud sound about ten feet below him woke Jack up in an instant and he jolted upwards, banging his head against the rafters.. 

Wind gently returned Jack to the ground and gave his staff, which had been floating in the air near him, back to him. Having the staff in his hands once again, he clutched it tightly, unwilling to let it go again.

"Wha- what do you want from me?" he stuttered, trying to seem confident. His eyes filled with pain when his gaze fell on Bunny. Bunny had been where it all had started and now that Jack was coherent enough to register what was happening, he did not take kindly to the pooka. Neither, apparently, did the voice that haunted him. 

The main problem that Jack had with the voice was its impeccable timing. It only appeared when he actually was at full strength and then it tended to stay for however long it wanted before fading again. Jack really hated it because it always came just when he was beginning to heal from the mental damages inflicted on him by Pitch and ruined any progress he had made. After a while, Jack just stopped even trying to make any progress.

_ That Easter Bunny is just going to return you to Master _ , the voice whispered to him.  _ He never cared about you. He wanted you to be captured. They just want to use you for your powers before returning you to the torture. Don't even think about trusting any of them. _

Jack gave a minuscule nod of acknowledgement, but apparently not small enough that it wasn't caught by Bunny, who was minorly confused at this seemingly random nod, but he filed the information away to think about later. At the moment, gaining Jack’s trust was the most important thing. 

"Jackie," he said softly. "We just want you to be safe. Nothing else." He said the last part in a tone that simply resonated sincerity and finality. . 

Jack shook his head violently, trying to shake out the contradicting thoughts. He managed to ignore what Bunny was saying, but the voice was literally in his head and therefore fairly difficult to ignore. 

_ He's lying.  _ The voice hissed.  _ He wants to use you and then throw you out. Even Pitch will eventually get bored of you. I mean, look at you! Useless for everything except your powers, and you can barely even get that right most of the time!  _

Agreeing with the voice, Jack voiced these objections to the previous statements. "No one wants nothing in exchange for everything!" Tears filled his eyes as he desperately tried to convince himself that Bunny was lying. "Stop trying to trick me. I won't do what you want!" He quickly turned to anger, the tone of his voice becoming vehement by the end of his sentence. 

_ That's it, _ the voice coaxed.  _ Let them know how much of a failure you are from the start. If you’re useless enough, they might not even care about your powers. They might fling you back to Master, where you belong. They'll give up eventually. _

"Stop!" Jack suddenly screamed, clutching at his hair and yanking out a few stands in the process. "I don't care what you think!" 

The Guardians were understandably incredibly confused. They had been in the middle of trying to formulate a reply to Jack's previous statement when he started yelling, so they were unsure of what any of them could have possibly done to get such a violent reaction. 

"Jack," Tooth said gently. As the most motherly of the bunch, the guardians thought it best to let her take the lead when it came to trying to comfort Jack. "None of us said anything. What can we do to help?" 

"I wasn't talking to you!" Jack yelled, panting heavily. He noticed a small, open window near the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. "Wind," he whispered. Wind complied with his unspoken request and whisked him out of said window. It may have been a tad concerning that Jack managed to fit through the window, but he was pretty much starved for the last hundred years. Even if he technically didn’t require substance, there were still poor effects on his body after going for so long without it.

The Guardians were left behind in the workshop, mouths gaping in speechlessness. None of them could quite believe what had just happened. Sandy waved his hands about, attempting to get anyone’s attention before creating several signs that flashed quickly above his head.

North, who wasn’t exactly paying any attention to Sandy in the slightest, didn’t even try to decipher the symbols. "I do not have any idea what the Sandman was trying to say, but we appear to have another spirit hunt on our hands!" He rubbed his hands together gleefully, seemingly excited for the upcoming chase. 

Meanwhile, Jack had collapsed in a snowbank several hundred meters from the North’s workshop. He lay in the snow, trying his best to stop his heavy breathing and get everything under control. Not now, he tried to convince himself. I will not have another panic attack in the middle of nowhere. He was beginning to calm down. The snow helped drastically in renewing his strength. 

Unfortunately, that meant that it was time for the voice to come calling yet again.  _ Oh, but you will. You will continue to be pathetic time and time again. Why Master put up with you for so long... _ It trailed off as if in disappointment at Jack's behavior. 

"Pitch wasn't very nice. It's good that I'm away from him," Jack responded to the voice verbally, but his voice lilted up near the end of the sentence, proving that Jack only half-believed what he was saying. What if Master is the only chance for companionship that I have? he thought. At least I knew what he wanted from me. With the Guardians, I can't tell what they want from me. Master was honest with me at the very least. 

_ Exactly!  _ The voice exclaimed.  _ That is exactly what I was talking about! I mean, talking might not exactly be the right word for what I’m doing, but that doesn’t really matter. Master is the only one who will accept you for you. He knows how to deal with your complete and utter failures, unlike the Guardians or literally anyone else who you could run to. Is there even a point to living if you aren’t properly punished when you mess up?  _

During this conversation, a small spiral of black sand began appearing near Jack, slowly forming a distinctly human shape. Unfortunately for Jack Frost, he was too engrossed with his conversation to notice the stark contrast of black sand against white snow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not be fixing up this story and transferring it over from fanfiction.net. If you feel any need to know what happens in the next two chapters immediately, you could pop over there. Warning! The writing is pretty bad, but there are a few interesting plot devices that show up fairly soon, so there's that option for anyone who wants it.


	6. Chapter 6

_No one cares what you want,_ the voice told him. _Even if you were remotely useful, no one would want to help you. It takes far too much effort to deal with your bratty behavior, so why would the Guardians take the time to help you now? If they had actually cared about you, they would have done something by now! Master is the only one that helps you. Ever. He healed you when you were about to die and-_

Jack had finally had enough. "So what?” he exclaimed. “I wouldn't have been fatally injured if it weren't for him!"

The black sand swirling behind Jack Frost was slowly beginning to take a recognizable form. A man of black sand emerged behind him. This figure wasn't Pitch Black, but it was someone who Jack had learned to fear over the years he had been imprisoned. After many years of experimenting, Pitch and Jack had finally found a way to create semi-sentient lifeforms. The one forming now just so happened to be one of Pitch's favorites. It was particularly cruel to Jack without having any orders to do so and because of this, Pitch was able to leave the punishment of the young winter spirit to their creation while still being able to trust that the job would get done to his standards..

This being had even been deemed worthy of a name. While Jack was most often referred to as ‘Boy’ or ‘Pet,’ this creation had been considered so perfect by Pitch that it had been given a name. Not that Jack was bitter about this in the slightest. Back around the time after the man had been created, Pitch had looked over at the tall, dark, humanoid being standing above a whimpering Jack Frost and smirked. "I think that I will call you Osud." His unforgiving gaze had turned to Jack. "Do you know what that means, Pet?"

Jack had slowly shook his head, which just so happened to jar several of his festering injuries. This act of perceived defiance had earned him a vicious kick to his bruising side from Osud. "Answer your master with your voice," it told him in a low gravelly voice that had Pitch grinning maliciously ear to ear. "You have not become useless in that area as well?"

"No," Jack rasped, doing his best not to stutter. "I do not know what Osud means."

He winced, curling in on himself as he was kicked in his side yet again. "Call him by his proper title, you freak," Osud growled at him.

"I'm sorry, Master" Jack said quietly, whimpering after the words came out of his mouth.

The shadow lord smirked. "Osud means doom. Do you know what language I got his name from?"

Prompted by a nudge to his injuries, Jack said, "No, Master."

"Incompetent, " Pitch said dismissively. "Osud means Doom in Czech. I chose this name for him because of you." He smirked yet again. "If you step one toe out of line, if even a hair goes over the line that I, your Master, have drawn, he shall bring the doom to you! "

He burst out cackling as if he had just said the funniest joke in the world.

The voice continued its attack on Jack with a vengeance. _Osud is literally better than you in every way, it reminded him. You couldn't escape Master if you tried. At this point, the Guardians are just being cruel. They’re giving you hope that you could be loved before reaffirming the truth. You can never be loved. It is impossible for you to be happy. Pitch may have taught you that, but the Guardians are the ones who caused it._

The mere mention of Osud had Jack freezing in place. "Please don't mention him," he whispered, furtively glancing over his shoulder and letting out a yelp of shock when the subject of his fear was in fact looming behind him. Osud had finally formed out of the black sand that had previously been swirling, forming a stark contrast against the white snow that had gone completely unnoticed by Jack previously.

Wind, his eternal friend, jerked him out of the way of Osud's first swipe, and he very nearly let out a cry of relief when he saw the Guardians sprinting over the snowbank, having been drawn to his location by his cry.

"Jack!" Bunny yelled. "Get over here! We'll protect ya, buddy!"

Jack immediately flashed back to his previous conversation with the voice. Bunny and the Guardians were not a better option than Osud and Pitch. They were even worse! He had no idea where he stood with them. At least with Master, he knew what was coming. There would be harsh punishments, but hopefully there was a possibility that they could be slightly lessened due to the fact that he hadn't told the Guardians anything useful, especially regarding how to remove his collar.

He wasn’t exactly supposed to have that knowledge, but he had picked up a thing or two whilst in captivity. Its removal would have been completely possible with Sandy's golden sand, but Jack knew that, in the event that he was taken back to Pitch, he knew that the punishments would be hundreds of times worse if his collar was gone. It had taken several weeks of hard work on both of their parts to create the collar, and since it was inevitable that he would go back to Pitch at some point in the near future, he had already decided against informing Sandy of that option.

After a split second of weighing his options, neither of them good, he decided that running from all parties involved was his best option. So that’s what he did. Unfortunately, he was only able to sprint a few hundred meters before an old injury in his leg suddenly flared up and he collapsed in the snow.

Wind then picked him up and gently, but quickly, carried him away from both Osud and the Guardians. A quick glance behind him showed that no one was pursuing him, though that was likely only because the Guardians had engaged the being made out of dark sand and a hint of ice in battle, distracting him from the possibility of pursuit.

The collar around Jack's neck flared, searing the skin below it.

 _Idiot_ , the voice hissed.

"Shut up," he found himself muttering. "I know. Can you please just not? Go away or something please."

 _Oh, but I can't Jackie-boy!_ The voice sounded slightly too enthusiastic about that fact. _I’m a part of you. Too much exposure to the dark stuff, you know? You’re stuck with me until the end of time! And you don't even have the pleasure of escaping to other people. No one else is kind enough to put up with your stupid self! If only there was someone who could tolerate you, if only slightly... Oh wait! There is someone! And you are running from the one who is able to return you to him, you brat. Quit this tantrum right now. If you go back right this instant, there is a slight chance that he'll actually take you back!_

"Slow down Wind," Jack called out suddenly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a Christmas miracle! I've updated 3 of my fics all on the same day! If you have the free time, you could check some other of my fics out. Don't worry about it though. Just take this chapter as a Christmas present. Merry Christmas!


	7. Chapter 7

At his request, Wind dropped Jack Frost to the ground. Not violently or anything, Wind simply wanted nothing to do with Jack’s apparent death wish. Jack stumbled back toward the fight, ignoring Bunny and Tooth’s frantic shouts for him to stay away. Their earlier calls to come to them changed quite quickly when they realized how difficult the fight was becoming. Despite the fact that it was four against one, Osud was easily winning. Jack blocked their calls out of his ears and limped into the center of the fight, holding his arms up in the general sign of surrender. 

“I think it would just be best if I went with Osud,” he said quietly, looking up from underneath long bangs at the creature of ice and darkness. Osud chuckled, the sound drowning out the protests of the Guardians, his smirk looking remarkably similar to a black hole, which happened to be quite unsettling if you focused on it. 

By this point, Jack knew not to look too closely at Osud, but the Guardians had not had the extensive training that Jack had received. They openly gaped at Osud’s attempt at a smile, which did not go over well with him. His smirk disappeared, replaced with a snarl. He flung out a hand, knocking the Guardians back with a blast of icy dark sand, which seemed to be an extension of his own body. The sand crept back toward him, but the ice stayed behind. It fastened around the Guardians, effectively restricting all of their movement. Osud’s other hand spun in the air, delicately creating a chain that floated through the air to attach to the collar that still remained around Jack’s neck.

A portal of swirling black sand appeared in front of Osud and he roughly yanked Jack forward into the suffocating blackness. Jack went limp, allowing himself to be dragged to what was sure to be several months of torture. He remained still even as his already injured leg got caught on a rock that was sticking up through the snow and gashed him. Suppressing a flinch, Jack quietly lamented the fact that the snow surrounding him no longer held much healing power. It used to, to be certain, but now there was too much darkness in his blood, or at least that was what the voice had told him. 

As Osud was maliciously pulling Jack along, Sandy managed to free himself from his icy prison and shot a blast of golden sand at Jack’s captor. The shimmering stream was weak, but still caught Osud off guard. He stumbled forward through the passageway. Despite Sandy’s hopes of releasing Jack In the process, Osud still ended up dragging Jack behind him as sand making up the chain had been melded to the sand that the creature called its flesh.

Jack didn’t lose his composure after the sudden jerk, having been conditioned to avoid making noise during his many punishments. In the beginning, Jack would scream and flail about while Pitch was punishing him for doing something wrong, like speaking out of turn. It was even worse when he so much as twitched a muscle during one of Pitch’s sick experiments. He had to suppress a shiver at the memory of those incidents. The experiments were where Master had gotten the idea for the combination of their powers. They were not pleasant to say the least. 

_ But how else would you be useful to Master?  _ the voice snarked.  _ Also, you can’t just continue calling me ‘That One Crazy Voice in Your Head'.  _ Jack could almost hear the smirk in the voice, but it did have an interesting point. He had known the voice for many years, why wouldn’t it have an actual name?  _ Oh quit your rambling, _ it said.  _ There are much more interesting things going on in your immediate surroundings.  _ Jack looked up in interest. Typically, there wasn’t much in the outside world that caught the voice’s attention enough for it to point out. 

He had just emerged from the Portal of Doom at the feet of Master. This was fairly normal. The incredibly strange part of this scene was the fact that there was a panting lump of fur on the ground next to him. However, Jack himself wasn’t much more than a lump on the floor at this point either, so he knew that he honestly could not judge. 

Apparently when Bunny had seen Jack being dragged through the swirling black sand disappearing he had, with superhuman strength, tore out of the icy bonds and with a mighty leap soared through the portal as it closed. It wasn’t exactly his smartest decision ever, but he did manage to get through. The only thought on Bunnymund’s mind was that he couldn’t lose Jack the same way as last time. 

“Well, well, well,” the menacing voice of Master echoed from above Jack. On instinct, he bowed his head, hoping beyond hope that the King of Nightmares and Terror would focus on the rabbit first. Usually, if Master ended up working off a little steam before a punishment, it got a lot better. There is a huge difference between excruciating pain and a couple slaps and a warning. Luckily for Jack, but unfortunately for Bunny, his wish was granted. 

Pitch descended from his throne, looking for all the world like the monster that he was, with shadows cascading over his face with an intensity that rivaled that of an actual demon. “Jack,” Bunny whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “While he has me, you need to run. I came to this godforsaken place to keep you safe, so while his attention is on me you need to get as far away from here as possible.” 

_ Liar,  _ the voice hissed.  _ Don’t even think about listening to him. Why would anyone risk their life for a useless piece of trash like you? _ Jack nodded sadly in response to the voice in his head, but Bunny seemed to take it as an affirmative to his order. 

Pitch had started chuckling as he approached Bunny, having heard every word that Bunny had just said. “Now why,” he said contemplatively. “Why would my pet, who I have spent the last century training mind you, even consider running? It is practically against a pet’s nature!” He put a foot on top of Bunny. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him after you.” He practically spit the last words, forcing them out of his mouth. Jack scuttled off to the side, burying his face in his arms and listening to the voice’s deprecating words and Bunny’s yelps of pain and pleas for Jack to run. 


End file.
